Water trickles back into Silver Lake Reservoir – but don’t get too excited

SILVER LAKE — The L.A. Department of Water and Power has said that the job of refilling the Silver Lake Reservoir, which was drained in 2015, won’t begin until this May. But resident Dan Gershon and others this week said they noticed that large pools of water had begun to form on the dry reservoir bed. Had LADWP decided to begin refilling sooner?

The answer is “no,” said department spokesman Albert Rodriguez. “Infrastructure is still being put in, and pumping of water back into Silver Lake will begin in May.”

Pools of water, although not as large, also popped up across the reservoir bed last year after it had been drained to build a pipeline. Agency officials have said they believe that the water was seeping up from natural, underground reservoir banks. The same effect occurred the last time the reservoir was drained several years ago.